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Amnesty International: Tortured woman acquitted

Amnesty International-Mexico announced Tuesday that a Juárez woman who alleges that she was tortured by Mexican police was acquitted of extortion charges by a judge Monday.

The woman, Cristel Fabiola Piña Jasso, 25, who is the mother of two children, spent two years in prison before a court in Northern Chihuahua state ruled that the evidence against her alleging extortion was insufficient and ordered a federal investigation into her torture allegations, Erika Guevara-Rosas, director of Amnesty International-Americas, said in a statement.

A spokesman for the Chihuahua state government was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

“The fact that a young woman has been forced to spend two years in prison after being tortured to confess to a crime speaks volumes about the state of the Mexican judicial system,” Guevara-Rosas said.

“While we welcome (Piña's) acquittal, justice will not be done until those who sexually tortured her into confessing to a crime are put behind bars and a strong message is sent that torture is never acceptable.”

Amnesty International said Piña was arbitrarily detained alongside her husband on Aug. 12, 2013, after Chihuahua state police stormed her home near Zaragoza in Juárez. Police brutally beat both of them and sexually abused Piña until she agreed to confess on videotape, Amnesty International alleged.

She retracted the confession in court and told the judge she had been tortured, according to the international human rights organization.

Piña, her husband, and another co-accused could be set free by the end of the month after the deadline for the Mexican public prosecutor to appeal the decision expires, Guevara-Rosas said.

Although the El Paso Times normally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault, Piña and her relatives have been open about the sexual-abuse torture allegations. Amnesty International also identified her in previous and recent reports about the case.

For more information, visit amnestyusa.org/news/

Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at 546-6140; dvaldez@elpasotimes.com; @eptimesdiana on Twitter.